NFC ticketing trial eliminates “did I touch out?” doubt

An NFC transport ticketing trial in the Netherlands will allow passengers to see on their phones if they have correctly checked themselves on or off the service as they travel, avoiding the risk of paying too much for their journeys.

The pilot, run by Vodafone Netherlands, will allow 100 testers in Amsterdam to use their NFC phones to touch in and out of public transport services including buses, trams and trains, using a SIM card linked to their OV contactless public transport card.

“The SIM card will have the same functionality as the regular OV chipcard,” Vodafone Netherlands explained to NFC World. “This means that the same payment mechanisms can be used, like auto-reload of your balance or payment via a postpaid subscription model. We cannot share all the details at this stage, but the check-in and check-out process is the same as with the current OV chipcard.

“Instead of tapping your card, you tap with your smartphone. Passengers need to download an app and install the special SIM card on their smartphones. On the smartphone, users can see easily and at any time whether they are on or checked out — by checking in and out, we mean touching in and out.

“Tapping in and out with the OV chipcard in the Netherlands is a similar process as to travelling with an Oyster card in London. We cannot share all details at this stage; what I can tell you is that the app installed on the smartphone will indeed tell the user whether they are tapped in or tapped out.”